Beneath the Sands of Egypt
by TheSilentThief
Summary: [Post Ceremonial Battle] Even after their purpose is served, the Sennen Items still manage to bring people together in the most unexpected ways...Angstshipping [MxR]


God its been forever. But this idea's been gnawing at my brain, and I miss writing day in and day out anyhow. So, thusly this short was born, deliberately structured to be an open ended one-shot.

On the names/translation: I've striven to keep things translated, aside from suffixes for Ryou since he's natively Japanese. Also, on Malik's name: as you probably know, r and l are one sound in Japanese, leaving the translation of Malik's name open. I like to think this also applies to his last name: pick a letter and stick with it (I.e. either Malik Ishtahl or Marik Ishtar). And after comparing relentlessly subbed versions of the Memory arc and Battle City: yes, it is Ishizu. It pains me to admit it, but it is.

Disclaimer: YuGiOh and all the characters and plotlines therein are the property of Kazuki Takahashi. I am no thief.

Read, enjoy, review, all that jazz.

---

"Attention all passengers. Please return your seats to the upright position and store all items in their overhead bins. We will be landing shortly in Cairo."

The clouds had seemed so small and seemingly flat beneath the plane as it had soared through the skies, defying (in Ryou's opinion) the very necessary laws of gravity. As the ground came closer the white wisps regained their magical qualities and the windows were filled with white as far as the eyes could see (incidentally, this was no more than three feet). The white haired boy squirmed, extremely uncomfortable from the seats that were designed specifically to drastically punish anyone unable to afford business class. The air on the plane was hot and stuffy-possibly to prepare the unwitting travelers for Egypt's stifling temperatures, possibly because the airline was too cheap to pay for air conditioning. And finally, Ryou was cursed with the luck of forever ending up seated next to someone who gave off vibes screaming 'hug me, I'm creepy!'. In this particular case it was a scruffy, rather odor-intensive man who spent the majority of the plane ride spitting into a cup. For the last bit of the flight this cup was left within near proximity of Ryou's elbow-he could almost _see _the germs crawling out to get him. But he didn't dare move it, as this would probably wake the creepy old guy (COG) and initiate another mind-scarring conversation similar to the one at the beginning of the flight.

"Excuse me sir, but could you move over a little?" It wasn't so much that he had a thing about personal space. More that he was being suffocated by foreboding. Or the smell.

Hearing this of course the COG leaned forward until his nose was nearly buried in Ryou's hair. "You know in my day and age, they didn't let girls travel alone cross country."

"I'm not a girl!" Thank God for window seats. He'd pressed as far against the wall as he could, all the while fearing his meager fifty two kilograms would cause the plane to flip over. "And I'm eighteen."

The old guy raised his eye, clearly of the mind that Ryou was either in denial or a cross dresser. Either way, he cheerfully segued into "I'm working on a world record, you know. Haven't bathed in three weeks."

Three hours that conversation had gone on. Ryou shuddered to himself. And people wondered why he was afraid of flying. In slow motion he leaned against his seat, bracing for the landing. His hand reached towards his chest to grasp the Sennen Ring…right. It was long gone, buried in a tomb in Egypt where Yuugi had faced his alter ego. He felt entirely wrong without the heavy gold pendant around his neck, supposed 'evil influence' or no. That was why he was here in the first place. Things had been decidedly weird since Yuugi had gone to Egypt.

"Welcome to Cairo. It is currently 9:30 AM and the temperature is 82 degrees. Enjoy your stay, and thank you for flying with us."

Ugh. Only 9:30? Ryou wanted nothing more than a bed, though at this point he'd settle for a pillow and somewhere flat to stretch out. He didn't sleep well on airplanes, COG or no.

Twelve minutes, twenty eight steps, and one disturbingly cheerful stewardess determined to grope him later Ryou remembered something; not only did he hate flying, he hated airports too. Bad food, bad music, overpriced gifts, and he had absolutely NO idea where he was going. _One step at a time. First find food that doesn't look like death warmed over. Then find someone who can get you where you need to go. _Despite his father's connections within the archaeological society Ryou had run into wall after wall in finding someone who'd even heard of what he was looking for. In the end he'd opted for the most simple tactic-arrive first, think later. First, he need a taxi-

"Hey, Bakura!"

Well, there were probably stranger names than his. Certainly as far as he knew there was no one he knew in-

"Over here! Hey!"

Okay, perhaps they were talking to him. A blonde boy about his age was waving his arm energetically, looking not at all conspicuous as he beckoned the white haired boy over. Ryou bit his lip, walking slowly while he wracked his brain. This young man certainly seemed familiar. But the connection in his mind seemed foggy, as though it had been distorted by murky glass. Had they met? "Um, I'm sorry. Can I help you?"

His clear confusion must have shone. The blonde calmed considerably, even rubbing the back of his head in a small gesture of embarrassment. "Sorry. I guess we were never really introduced, huh? Mostly I guess I saw the other you." Conveniently, the whole mind-control-and-manipulation-not-to-mention-serious-wound aspect was left out of this little comment.

"I'm sorry. My memory's never been great. I do feel as though I've met you . I just for the life of me can't remember your name." _The other me? _He bowed tentatively, waiting for the aforementioned name.

"It's Malik. Malik Ishtahl. I haven't been to Japan for almost two years now anyway. Of course you wouldn't remember." He said all of this in a somewhat rapid manner, steering Ryou towards another pair of Egyptians waiting towards the door; a rather tall and imposing looking man and a beautiful woman, though her eyes seemed to look straight through him. "Jonouchi wrote a while ago and told me a friend of his would be visiting Egypt soon. He asked me if I'd be willing to help you out." Of course it had been Jonouchi. It was only to be expected when he'd told such a blabbermouth. A well meaning blabbermouth, but the point still stood. He'd had to tell someone where he was going, and Jonouchi was more or less the only available option. He'd never been terribly close to Anzu or Honda, and of course he couldn't tell Yuugi. It would've been cruel to tell him about finding the Items when he was finally beginning to get over past events.

Out the doors…and from there Ryou was more or less blind. Bright. Definitely bright out there. And albino or not (something he was never quite sure on, nor was anyone it seems) his eyes were particularly light sensitive. It was _probably_ a car that they were getting into, and this car was _probably_ not leading him to his imminent doom. Despite being rather imposing the family (?) seemed friendly enough. Ten minutes into the drive Malik, who'd been mercifully quiet since the airport, opened his mouth again. Ryou braced himself. _No more chatter, not after COG. Please. _"Anyway. What are you looking for all the way out here? Your father owns Domino museum, right?"

"Um, yes. He's hardly ever home, but the building does technically belong to him. I'm here looking for-" Whoa. Stop. Confiding in complete strangers tends to get a person in trouble. "Just for something I lost. It's very precious to me." AS he said this his hand reached once again for the ring. Still not there.

"You're looking for the Sennen Items." Malik said quietly. He was suddenly very serious, a hard look in his eyes. "You can talk about it. My sister and I were both Item bearers. But why are you looking?"

That was it! The place where Ryou remembered this young man very clearly. They'd been there when Yuugi had dueled his other self. Which meant-"Can you take me to where they're buried? Please, I have all the equipment I'd need. I just need a guide." The look in his eyes was intense, but not so ferocious coming from someone whose face more was described as 'pretty' than anything else. It was something that made him both attractive to numerous girls as well as every bully within a twenty mile radius. A curse on both counts-Ryou had always been uncomfortable around girls, ever since his sister…

"Bakura? Hey, Bakura! Stay with me. You keep spacing out. Why are you trying to dig up the Items?" He leaned forward toward Ryou, the intense look much better fitted to his face. _Strange. He's wearing kohl on his eyes. It almost looks more like a tattoo than makeup though. _And purple eyes too. This young man was becoming stranger and stranger. "I can't take you anywhere unless I know your intentions."

"The reason-" Outside the car was a deafening thunk, accompanied by bumping that rattled the teeth around in his skull. Malik, being without a seatbelt, fell forward into to window with a smack. Ryou winced, as Malik slumped down the window. There was a tiny crack in the glass, as well as a few spots of blood. "Malik-kun, are you-" He stopped short. One, because the boy was obviously unconscious and asking questions would serve no purpose, and two, Malik's head had landed conveniently in his lap. Welcome to the land of uncomfortable situations. Population: Bakura Ryou. He couldn't move Malik. The body was heavy, and if he had a concussion Ryou ran the risk of worsening it. So for more than two hours Ryou squirmed in his seat, his face a curiously bright pink.

"Are we there yet?" Malik's voice was thick and muffled, as though he'd taken a long nap instead of hitting his head on the window. "Why's everything look so-blue?"

"Malik-kun. If you could sit up, it would be greatly appreciated." Ryou squeaked out, to his credit holding back a stutter. Malik obliged, apologetic but not nearly as uncomfortable about it as Ryou had been. "Sorry. Ishizu tells me all the time I'm going to get hurt one of these days moving around. Guess it had to happen eventually." He shrugged. "What were we talking about again?"

----

The Ishtahl household was fairly normal, to Ryou's considerable surprise. If, of course, one excluded the fact that the entire house was located beneath the ground ("We have a house in town too, but staying here'll be easier, you know?"), and that everything seemed to be made of stone, and that the halls were still lit by torchlight ("It's pretty much impossible to get electric lighting down here."). All right, it was anything but normal. And if anything it gave Ryou the impression that the three Ishtahl siblings were normal, given the circumstances. "You can stay here with us." Ishizu had informed him. "Given what you are looking for it would be unwise for you to become recognizable in town." Again with those piercing eyes, though they held no malice. More like they were sizing him up. Was it his imagination, or was it ten times worse than it had been _before_ the incident in the car? "You may sleep in here."

"Thank you." He bowed hurriedly, looking for an excuse to hurry this all along. Living alone hadn't given him fantastic people skills. "Not to be rude, but who is it that's going to be my guide?"

"Malik, of course." She raised an eyebrow. To her the question was superfluous. "Rishid and I both work during the day. We don't have the spare time to lead a days-long expedition."

Ryou stifled a small groan, then a larger one. He was already slightly uncomfortable with the blonde boy-something on the fringes of his mind-but for several _days_? Plural? Just the two of them? It would be a nightmare. Ryou wished fiercely for his lead figurines, his role playing games, and most of all his ring. The sooner this was all over with, the better. "When can we leave?"

"You'll leave first thing tomorrow, before the sun rises. You said that you have all the tools that you require?" Oh yes, this woman certainly was direct. In a way she reminded Ryou of Seto Kaiba.

"Yes, everything. I didn't bring many supplies besides though. I was over my luggage limit as it was. So we're just…going to stay out there until we find what we're looking for?" Ryou chose his words carefully, trying to assess how long he'd be staying with Malik while still remaining tactful.

Ishizu softened her eyes, bringing down the room's aura of discomfort to a manageable level. "The two of you will take enough supplies to last you for about three days. If you haven't found what you are seeking by that time, return here so you can think as to whether you still want it." She laid a hand upon his shoulder. "Or if it truly is what you are looking for."

"Thank you. For being so helpful to me, I mean. I didn't know where to even begin looking for help." Ryou scuffed his shoes on the floor, bowing awkwardly again. In gratitude, and not at all as a means of avoiding the subject.

"Actually," She let her hand drop and turned in the direction of the door. Ryou could have sworn he saw a flash of gold disappear around the corner. "It was my brother who insisted. He seems determined to help you." At that she brushed past him, pausing long enough to whisper very softly, "Give him time. He is a well meaning soul, if forceful."

Once she was gone Ryou was able to move again. Very similar to Kaiba indeed. Though her words were less harsh she still had that frightening insight. "That was, unnerving." He dropped his bag onto the floor and knelt beside it. It was already late, and all inclination to sleep had fled with that last veiled comment. _Why am I looking for the ring, really? _Out of a notebook he took several sheets of paper and an ink pen. There was a desk in the corner, child sized, where he set up his materials. This never failed to calm him down.

"What's that you're doing?" Malik leaned curiously over his shoulder, craning to get a peek at the sheet of paper. "Is it a letter to your girlfriend?"

Ryou had always considered himself to be a patient person, polite to a fault. But something about this other man was wearing down his fragile, sleep deprived nerves. "Its nothing!" He hurriedly shielded the paper with his arms. "We really have to leave early tomorrow. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Not tired. And besides, I wanted to see my old room again." This tidbit succeeded in piquing Ryou's curiosity enough for him to raise his head. Malik grinned. "Yup, this was the room where I spent the first eleven years of my life. Lovely, homey little place. Such fond memories." His lavender eyes flashed bitterly, even as the smile remained fixed on his lips.

"I'll tell you who the letters are too, if you'll tell me something first." Ryou pushed away from the desk, carefully retracing his way down the hall to a ceremonial room he'd seen earlier. "What is this place?" His eyes rested a long time on a brown smear along the far wall. "Did someone die here?"

"Yeah." Malik's voice was so soft that Ryou strained to hear him, unconsciously leaning closer. "This is where the other me killed my father." He pointed to the raised table where the Sennen Items had once lain, now bare. "As you can see, that was a long time ago." His breath whispered through the room. Ryou shivered.

"I-I'm sorry to have asked. I'll see you in the morning." He whirled, wanting so badly to run from the press of bad memories in the air.

"Wait a minute." Malik grasped his arm, easily spinning Ryou back around like a toy. "You still haven't told me who the letters were for." Personal space, Ryou reflected squeamishly, seemed to have very little meaning to this man.

"My sister. My little sister, Amane. I haven't seen her in a long time, but," He squeezed his eyes shut. It wasn't technically a lie. And it was easier to say it that way, that's all. Not a lie. "I still like to write her letters."

"I'm sorry." Malik released his hold, leaving the shadowy imprint of what could be a bruise. Awkward, apparently a plague that chased Ryou to world's end, stood between them. "Good night, Bakura."

And Ryou was left all alone, but for the echoes of that impromptu tomb.

---

"Hey, wake up! Come on, come on, the sun'll be up soon. Nobody wants to go out in that kind of heat. Come on, you were the one in such a hurry." All of this was in a soft but impossibly cheerful tone. Ryou rolled over.

"Five more minutes." Normally a morning person (aside from the odd night up late writing an adventure story for Monster World), Ryou hadn't slept well. Not so much from the hard bed or the temperatures. No, mostly because he'd been dreading this moment, where Malik would be very awake, whereupon Ryou would be forced, out of self defense, to strangle him. "I'll get up then."

"We've already wasted half an hour already. I packed all your stuff already, and there's food in the car." He held out a pale blue shirt, the very same that Ryou had worn in Battle City. "Get Dressed already. You can't go in pajamas."

Grumbling within the safe confines of his mind Ryou did as he was told, stumbling in a half sleep from the room, into the hall, and along the path fairly well until he hit the stairs. There the steps deigned to make his life more difficult and pitched him headfirst onto the ground. From there Malik insisted on leading the sleep deprived teenager along by the arm, deliberately (or so it seemed to Ryou) more gentle than he'd been the night before.

Once Ryou was loaded into the passenger seat Malik had the good sense to leave the radio off, driving them in blissful silence to the wreckage of their destination. "Is that it?" A shot of adrenaline forced out the sleep that remained in Ryou's system. The place had, if it was possible, collapsed even further since he'd seen it last. "Its impossible! We'll never get in!"

"You came all the way from Japan to Egypt with no plan in mind, followed home someone that you barely remembered, and you're going to be daunted by a little rubble? You surprise me Bakura." He stretched back in the seat, shielding his eyes from the beginnings of the dawn. "I came down here after Jonouchi got hold of me, to make sure it wasn't a complete waste of time. There's a way in all right-I just hope you brought some dynamite in that bag of yours. The way things happen its likely the Items are under a few yards of dirt at least."

"You're sure?" _You came here alone, for someone you didn't know? _Just what kind of person was Malik? He seemed to be trying so hard to make a good impression. Too hard. Like he was making up for something in the past. Ryou squinted, trying to pierce the fog around his memories. He'd seen Malik before somewhere. Somewhere in Japan. Why couldn't he remember?

"-Kura. Bakura! Hey, stop zoning out on me! Let's go. The sun's already up." Malik was standing outside the car on Ryou's side, the equipment in a pile beside him. "Where do you go for so long?"

"Huh?" It couldn't have been more than a few minutes he was gone…how had the sun risen so completely? Ryou could feel it burning down on his skin. His memory lapses were still bad then, even now. "Sorry. Let's go."

Malik matched Ryou's stride with ease, even walking a short bit ahead. "You're not going to space out on me like that while we're down there, are you? I'd hate to have to save you from falling rubble or something." He indicated a small tunnel near where the original passage had been. It looked…almost handmade. Painstakingly carved to fit one person of slender build.

Momentarily touched by the small tunnel, Ryou bristled at the comment. "Don't worry." His curt voice echoed as he shimmied down the hole, pulling his things in after him, "I'm more than capable of taking care of myself." What was wrong with him? Yuugi, even his own father wouldn't have believed it was him just from conversation alone.

"Suit yourself then." The hole had swallowed him whole, leaving only a dark, empty space in front of the young Egyptian. "But I'm coming down after you anyway!" Assuming he'd fit. He'd had in mind that Ryou was a bit smaller around than himself, and had carved the passage out accordingly. Oh well. Hindsight is 20/20, it seems. "Wait, would you?"

The wind blasted across the desert, no proof that anyone had been there at all except for a car parked some distance away.

---

Though Ryou had never before been dead, he imagined this was what it would feel like. When he landed the world around him was black, the air old and musty. He felt disoriented, unsure of where in the world he stood though he'd come from daylight only minutes before. He felt around in the blackness, trying to find his bag and the flashlight inside of it. "I swear I put it near the top…there!" His fingers closed on cold metal just as the world came crashing down on him. The world, or at least fifty some kilograms of weight comings down on his back.

"Uh…Bakura?" The voice was sheepish and cowed, but not nearly sorry enough. He'd have to die for this. "That isn't you is it?" He rolled over until the space beneath him felt cold and hard instead of soft and angry. "Why didn't you move?"

"I was looking for my flashlight. Its dark down here. Makes it harder to work if I can't see what I'm doing." He rubbed his back, wincing. His hand, luckily, had maintained a death grip on the flashlight. He flicked the switch, the beam conveniently falling directly in Malik's eyes. "Are you down here to help? I can manage on my own-though I'm grateful to you for bringing me here." 

Dust clung stubbornly to Malik's clothes no matter how much he brushed at them. Frustrated, he settled for shaking out his hair like a dog and held up the bag of food. "You forgot about this. I thought it would be unwise to let you starve to death, since I'd probably be killed."

Ryou bit his lip. The whole display had reminded him of Jonouchi, shaking off yet another one of his losses (he kept challenging Yuugi-losing was inevitable). He was warming a little to this guy. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have another friend. "Thanks, I guess." Bad social skills strike again. He aimed the beam at the depths of their surroundings. A good deal of the roof had collapsed, making the once cavernous opening all but impassable, barring an empty space here and there. They could maneuver over some of the pillars, but beyond that…"We'll need explosives."

Malik's eyes lit up. "Really? You did bring some, yeah?" Interesting development this. One, Ryou must never, never let Malik near the explosives. The shine in his eyes was too unnerving for that. And secondary to that, Malik's Japanese had an interesting lilt to when he was excited. More heavily accented, thicker. It was a reminder of how far from home Ryou really was. And it was in a way endearing him further to his guide. At least they probably wouldn't kill each other during the duration of the excavation now. He punched the air with his fist, enlivened.

Ryou, meanwhile, was unpacking the things he'd need, taking special care to hide the dynamite from Malik. There was only a very small amount, and they couldn't afford to waste it. "Let's start by digging. Its far less likely to destroy what we-what I'm looking for. Help me, would you?"

Malik nodded, serious for once. "Glad to help." He kneeled in the rubble beside Ryou, laying things out carefully with the aid of the flashlight. "Is this going to be a one time thing?" He asked after a while. Dust was migrating towards them with a mind of its own, clinging to everything and bonding on a seemingly molecular level. "You'll find your ring, go back to Japan, and then what?"

Ryou sighed picking up a pick axe. This was going to be slow, chatty work. "I haven't really thought about it. I mean, things have been weird lately, and now that we've all graduated it'll get worse. Anzu-chan is going to America, just like she said she would. That's not surprising. I just didn't think Jonouchi-kun would want to go with her. Can't say I blame him I guess. All those years trying to pay his father's debts, it'd wear anyone down. What better way to start over? Yuugi's been spending a lot of time with Kaiba-kun lately. I think because they both miss the Pharaoh. And then he started helping at Kaiba Corp. Who better to consult than the world's greatest gamer, I suppose. Honda-kun is working all the time, Otogi is in America…I'm really the only one left. Everyone else is planning there futures, but I'm just the same as I always was." Where had all of this come from? He wasn't usually one to share his personal feelings. "Sorry. I didn't mean to overload you with information. I'm not usually-"

"Nah, I'm glad you did. Its interesting to hear how everyone is doing. If it makes you feel any better, I don't really have any idea as to where to go either." He worked along side Ryou, steadily and with an ease that suggested he'd done this kind of thing before. "I don't have a job as of right now. Here I am, almost nineteen, and still relying on my older brother and sister to survive. That, my friend, is a sign of pathetic-ness. I'd rather die than lead tourists around graves for the rest of my days, playing the stereotypical Arab. Though I could probably con them out of their family fortunes by the time I was done. The only thing I'm really passionate about is my motorcycle-that's hardly going to get me very far in this life, eh?" He paused to consider the statement. "Do you have anything that you're passionate about? That you could do until the day you die?"

Ryou shrugged. How long had they been down here? Couldn't have been more than an hour or two. They'd progressed barely more than five feet. There were hundreds of yards more to where the tablet had lain. "I like table top RPGs.. But that's not going to get me anywhere-I'm not a master gamer like Yuugi is."

"So we're in the same boat here. Both with something we love, neither with something we can make a living out of." Crack. He arched his back, smiling at the little pops as his spine came back to position. "So tell me about your sister."

Like a switch had been thrown, Ryou's companionable feelings were gone. There were just some things that a person didn't ask about. He shrugged, putting extra punch into the swing of his tool. The unfortunate target crumbled, and more unfortunately for Ryou released a large rock that had been lying on top of it. His eyes darted back and forth, unsure of were to move. In a panic he shielded his face, feeling something collide with him.

"Good thing I'm here, all right. DO you always freeze up like that?" Ryou cracked his eyes. Not dead, not injured. But the earth was rumbling beneath him. He shut his eyes again quickly, feeling something near him move as well. "Damn it-its going to trigger more." Ryou could already feel dirt flecking down on his face. "Hey, Bakura. We need to move. Right now." Ryou nodded, unable to open his eyes just yet. It was an odd kind of shock. "Come on already!"

A shadow passed over his eyelids, and only then did Ryou realize why he wasn't injured. It had been Malik that collided with him, protected him. His face was hot. That was why he'd had difficulty moving too. Now that his eyes were open he saw several rocks to either side. If all he'd felt was dirt, then-he sat bolt upright. "You didn't have to do that!"

"Sure I did. I said I'd protect you from stuff falling down on your head." The tools were gathered haphazardly in his arms. "Grab the food. The rocks opened the way for us a little more. We can go forward. " He steered Ryou purposefully towards the new hole in the wreckage, clamoring easily over collapsed pillars and chunks of stone. Impulsive, this whole venture was starting to seem foolishly impulsive. Every time Ryou stopped to check their surroundings Malik would tug at his sleeve, pull him deeper into the cavern. "The sooner we find it, the sooner we can leave, after all."

"It's a dead end." By this time Ryou was breathing hard, feeling more than a little dizzy. Had they gone that far? "Malik, is it harder to breathe in here?" The -kun had gotten dropped somewhere along the second or third five foot high pillar.

"Nah. You're imagining things." The sack was set down again, summoning up another swirl of dirt. Malik waved at it, miniature veins appearing on his forehead. "Enough already!" Not one to notice the obvious, more seconds passed before Ryou's obviously labored breathing came to his attention. "Bakura, you okay?"

Ryou waved him away, sinking down onto the ground with only enough energy to nod. "I'm just having a little trouble, that's all. Can we go back?" His eyes roved restlessly over the small space. Everything about him seemed to be at alert, ready to bolt at the slightest opportunity.

Like a bolt out of the blue came the answer. Oh, this would not be good. "Bakura, you're not claustrophobic are you?" Very slowly, similar to the way one might approach a rabid animal, Malik inched closer until he was kneeling in front of Ryou. "Hey."

"I am a little. Mostly I was just never very good at physical exertion." Suspicious, Ryou narrowed his eyes, oddly much better at an intimidating stare without Malik's siblings to compare himself to. "Should I be worried about small, enclosed spaces?" He leaned towards Malik in an attempt to further his self-found abilities of intimidation.

Malik smirked, covering up the nerves he felt. It wasn't, contrary to popular belief (popular belief consisting of Ryou), that Ryou was intimidating. He was adorable. If Malik lied to him there would be a hell of a lot of guilt over it later. So he bluffed, calling on the swagger and charisma he'd used so adeptly in Battle City. "You afraid of being alone with me down here, Ryou?" He drew the use of his first name deliberately, his fingers twining into Ryou's silver hair. If this worked Ryou would be pissed off at him-but he wouldn't be panicked. Lesser of two evils. He waited a breath, then began to lower his face towards Ryou's, waiting for the second that the other boy would call his bluff and insist that they get back to work.

The ploy was working, but not in the way Malik had meant it to. Ryou was in too much shock from the turn the conversation had taken to turn away, receiving a soft press of lips for his trouble. Hello, reality. Earth to Ryou. He shoved Malik away from him, covering his mouth tightly with both hands. He was red to the tips of his ears, heart jack hammering in his chest. _It's like I'm stuck in a bad shoujo manga. _Right, the best way to move past this would be to work all the faster. Obviously there was an odd atmosphere around them that caused a temporary loss of sanity. That could be the only explanation. "Let's just get this over with." Good, his voice wasn't shaking. That was a good place to start. "I'll work on this area of the room, and you work over there. Tell me if you find anything."

In steering Ryou away from the results of the falling rocks Malik had succeeded in at least one thing: they now stood at the very threshold of the alter that had held the Sennen Items. All Ryou had to do was dig. The ground was sunken, covered with loose debris. He removed that first removing his pale blue over shirt as he did. Being Ryou, modest to a fault, this still left him with a loose t-shirt on underneath. When the rocks were gone he picked up some of the more delicate tools from his arsenal, shifting carefully through the dirt. There had to be something. There had to be, and in his mind Ryou imagined the ring in the same golden glory it had been before. Hadn't it been thrown out a window into Pegasus's forest and come back to him just the same? It had to be fine.

"Oy, Ryou! I think I found something." Something gold glinted across the room, hidden beneath layers of grime. Maintaining at least enough dignity to keep hold of his tools Ryou nonetheless flew across the room towards the shine. Between Malik's fingers glinted a point of the Sennen Ring. "Hey, Ryou? Bakura? Say something, you're scaring me."

So much to expect! Ryou was barely up to breathing again, let along forming coherent sentences. There was one of the points that had hung 'round his neck day in and day out, that had at one point been a part of his very flesh. But where was the rest of it. "Malik, where's the rest of my ring?"

"This is all I've been able to find of it." He pointed to a small pile near their feet: a small piece of the puzzle, a fin from the rod. "It doesn't look like any of them survived intact. Too much weight was on top of them." He took Ryou's hand and pressed the point into it, closing Ryou's delicate fingers over the tarnished gold. "At least you can keep this."

Wrong, this was all wrong. Not at all how he had imagined things going in his mind. There was still that aching, that feeling of loneliness in his chest. He still felt empty. "Let me look. You must have overlooked something." Gently (he was still polite at heart, even if Malik seemed to bring out more rash tendencies in him) he nudged Malik aside, sifting through the dirt with his bare hands. One by one came pieces of the tauk, rod, and puzzle, the scale and the ankh.

"Ryou, this is crazy." Malik kept his voice soft and reassuring, almost the patronizing voice one used to address an emotional child. "You've been looking for ages, and its not there. I'm begging you. Let it go. Is it really that important to you?"

"Stop talking like that. I'm not a child." It had to be in there. It had to! "I know its in here. I just have to dig a little-ah!" He withdrew his hand with a jerk. Blood welled from his fingertips. But he'd hit something. Something that felt awfully familiar. The uninjured hand went back into the sand, digging until he felt the same sharp pain. Instead of pulling away he grasped the object and pulled it out with him. "This is it." He whispered happily. What he was looking for, what he so desperately needed.

Malik stared at him in disbelief. "Your hand's bleeding. You lacerated yourself just to pull something out even when you weren't sure of what it was." He'd always thought the insanity had been solely the property of the Ring's personality. Apparently at least some of it had been inherent. IN Ryou's hand was the Sennen Ring, snapped in half so that the edges were jagged. Ryou was staring at it. Malik imagined the look on his face was fairly similar to the one children wore when they discovered that there was no Santa Claus. "Bakura?"

"Just call me Ryou. You seemed awfully comfortable with it before." He had nothing left, no other options. Before the chaos of Egypt the Ring had always felt warm in his grasp, full of a kind of life. Now it was just a cold junk of metal that could do nothing to fill his inner emptiness. He shut his eyes tight. He wasn't going to cry in front of a stranger. It just wasn't done. He was so tired. "How long have we been down here?" The strength that fueled his fervor was fast seeping away. He felt as if he hadn't slept in some weeks.

Malik rubbed his eyes. "I don't know. If I had to guess, a little longer than we should've gone without sleep. You were just so determined. Who was I to stop you?" He brushed a clump of dust ridden hair from Ryou's face. "Hey. It's not the end of the world. You've got your own life, your own future ahead of you. You don't need that thing."

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about. You can't tell me about this." He threw the broken Ring with the last of his strength. Hope had a way of keeping a person going without their knowing. Now all Ryou wanted to do was sleep. "I've felt so empty these last couple months. Everyone's moving on. Everyone has something, or someone. All I had was the Ring. I don't even have that now." In spite of himself he'd held on to the one severed point.

Malik grasped the smaller boy's shoulders gently, holding him up. Tactfully, he had to approach this tactfully. "Maybe it's a good thing that you came here. Not to come down here, but to meet me. Between us we could probably come up with a something to keep us going. We're two of a kind, it looks like." Careful not to disturb Ryou's bleeding hands Malik pulled him close, resting his head on top of the soft white hair. "I'll be your someone, Ryou."

There is only so much emotion, good or bad, that a person can take and still retain their composure. Ryou had hit his limit. Tears rolled down his cheeks, freed from their place behind Ryou's tired eyes. "You sound like my sister. She was always telling me that she's look out for me…it was so adorable."

"What happened to her." Malik had begun to suspect something terrible in regard to Ryou's sibling. It just hadn't been the right moment to ask. "Why do you still write her letters, Ryou?"

"S-she," He pressed himself into Malik's tightening embrace, looking for comfort, any comfort. "She died in a car crash. Its my fault. If I hadn't had to move away, if people hadn't gotten hurt because of me," He sniffed, "I would have been there to look out for her. She wouldn't have died. I should have known my father was too busy to look out for her." The torrent of words and cries began to subside, as they often do with catharsis. "She never got the last letter that I sent her. So I keep writing them, and burning them, hoping that she'll know I was thinking of her."

"She knows." Their relationship, from the way Ryou spoke, had been a close one. It struck a chord in Malik, calling up images of Rishid's near death. If he had died…much as Malik loved his sister, he would have felt lost without his older brother. Maybe as deeply lost as Ryou felt. "And I think I know how to help you heal that empty place." He gripped Ryou's chin between his fingers, guiding his face up and away with gentle and deliberate movements until they were face to face. "I meant what I said." He closed the distance between them, feeling his own empty place begin to shrink just a little.

---

Amazing how in the space of a few seconds Ryou had gone from hoping fervently that the atmosphere of the chamber caused temporary insanity to hoping fervently that it caused _permanent_ insanity. He felt a little insane himself. It wasn't a bad feeling. With the point of the Ring still clutched tightly in his bloody hand he followed Malik back the way they'd came. "Hey!" The protest came from the sudden hand that Malik had thrown over his eyes, obscuring his view of the exit. He shoved it down. "What was that f-oh."

"I knew there'd been some damage, but this is worse than I imagined." The results of the earlier catastrophe had almost completely blocked their exit. A sliver of the returning dawn played on the rocks. Malik whistled/ "Wow. You really lose track of the time down here." He began to pace back and forth in front of their obstacle. Ryou could almost see the proverbial gears turning. Or the hamster running, if it would be more appropriate. He smiled. Even if his feels towards Malik had warmed up considerable thanks to prior events, it was too easy to make fun of the blonde. "All right. We have two days worth of food, and if we don't come back Ishizu will _probably_ notice we're missing. Unless she thought I was serious about kidnapping you…"

"Your sense of humor fails to amuse me." He grabbed Malik's wrist to hold him still-one could only take so much pacing. "Stop that."

Malik smirked and tugged on the arm that held him, securing his own arm around Ryou's waist and resuming his pacing. "This better for you?" From a distance their movements could have been mistaken for a clumsy tango. "You're a lot bossier than I took you for when you got here. Where'd all this nerve come from?" He dipped Ryou backwards. Maybe it was meant to be a tango, then.

"You bring out the worst in me. I never talk like this back home." He held very still, afraid Malik would drop him. "You can't seriously expect me to believe that this is helping you think?"

"Yes, it is." He pulled Ryou out of the dip and continued the pace/dance. Obvious, there had to be an obvious solution. Oh! "You said you had dynamite!" Duh. Only the very stupid would mistake the Egyptian for a genius. Excitedly he dug through the bag, looking for something resembling an explosive. "Oh," He added as an afterthought, "And I like this confident person. To be honest, if you had stayed so quiet you would have gotten on my nerves." He ducked in anticipation, feeling the rock breeze over his head. There! At the bottom of the bag was a small wrapped package of explosives. Enough to make a hole if they used it right.

"Give me that. I don't trust you that much." He snatched the package away, eyeing the top of the mountain of debris. "Give me a boost up there." He put one foot on the pile, turning to Malik a look that plainly said 'I'm watching you'. It wouldn't be the last time he'd get that look. Call it a hunch.

Malik did as he was told, interlacing his fingers to form a step for Ryou's small foot. "Good thing you're light." He grumbled, shifting his feet to maintain a better balance. Several minutes passed in this lass-than-comfortable position, ended by a triumphant noise from above and then a squeak.

"I'm gonna f-" Ryou hit the ground before he could complete the thought, echoing the scene from their arrival. There was indeed justice in the world. "Sorry." He held up a switch once they'd broken apart (this was more work on Ryou's part than anything-Malik seemed content the way they had been). "We'll back up a little bit, take cover, and _voila! _we'll be out of here."

"Yeah, sure." Malik massaged his abused spine, grabbing their things. The two concealed themselves behind a larger chunk of stone. "One…two…" Ryou stopped. "Fine." He handed Malik the controller with an exasperated sigh. "You do it."

Malik smiled. Reformed or no, sometimes a little destruction could be very cathartic. "Fire!" He ducked, pulling Ryou down with them as sand rained down on them. They were absolutely filthy, bleeding, and tired-but things seemed to be looking up. "It worked!"

Sun glinted in, the light at the end of the tunnel. "You first." Malik nudged Ryou. "We need to get those looked at, probably you'll need treatment."

"Patronizing." Ryou warned, shoving the side of Malik's head with his foot as the Egyptian helped him up to the tunnel. :You think things will change when we head back out there?"

"Do things ever stay the same?" Malik called enigmatically, his smile hidden in the shadows. "We'll just have to work on it."

---

Domino City……

"Kaiba-kun!" Yuugi Mutou, all of five feet two inches even at the age of eighteen, was racing up the walk at top speed, waving a letter in the air. Kaiba stopped to look up from his laptop only briefly. He'd grown used to this exuberance, but that didn't mean that he had to share it. It was enough that he was sitting outside, albeit with his work in tow. Yuugi pulled up just short of the table, smiling and breathing hard. "Look, Bakura-kun sent me a letter from Egypt." He upended the letter on the table, smiling. Several sheaves of paper spilled out, as well as a small snapshot.

"Hn." Kaiba's eyes flicked briefly over the photo. A smiling boy without the barest trace of a tan to show for his months in Egypt (Bakura, he recalled vaguely) was leaning against a motorcycle, smiling. Around his neck was a single piece of gold on a string, oddly tarnished. Another boy, much darker and several inches taller stood close by with his arm around the shorter boy. He returned to his work, casting Yuugi a glance as if to say, _so?_

"They look really happy, don't they?" He sat, peering alternately at the photo and the laptop. Kaiba nodded, a complete answer as far as his usual conversational tolerance went. Yuugi smiled, appeased. "Fine, fine, I get it. Let's get to work…"

---

"Hey, hurry up, will you? We're burning daylight!" Malik hammered on the door, helmet resting under his free arm.

"You can wait thirty seconds. I have at least that much faith in your patience." Ryou opened the door, wringing out his hair. They'd been on the road for a few days now, and had realized early on that given the amount of money they had any hygiene would have to be taken care of courtesy of roadside stations. In the bag at his side were two boat tickets, the reason for their lack of funds.

"You sure about this? I mean, its not too late to turn back. It'll be scary." He was teasing, prodding Ryou's side with that smirk. Ryou didn't think he'd ever be sure if he loved or hated that smirk.

"We paid out the nose so that we could go out and see the world, and take your bike with us. How else do you intend to find your dream?" He slugged Malik in the shoulder, returning to said motorcycle parked outside.

"Just checking." Malik handed him the helmet. "And you don't regret taking it with me?"

Ryou regarded him seriously. "It depends on what day you ask me." He deadpanned, pulling Malik in for a kiss to soften the blow.

This must be love, this give and take, teasing and prodding and in the end just wanting to know the person you chose. "Just checking." He slid a pair of goggles down over his eyes, bringing the bike to life with a deft twist. "We've only got a few days left to get to port. Hold tight!"

And despite it all, Ryou was happy to oblige.

Fin


End file.
